Stella concealed the matter well this time, careful not to reveal anything.
"My intuition told me there was something suspicious about her since yesterday."
She tried to listen further, but the door opened and Hannah stepped out.
Her expression was nothing like usual, tense, almost strained.
Stella lingered after she left, determined to find out who had been inside.
A moment later, the other person came out. The instant his eyes met Stella's, shock crossed his face, he was the librarian. He quickly left, and she returned to her room, thoughts racing.
"Whatever they're hiding… I shouldn't rely on intuition alone. Still, something feels off."
By morning, as agreed with the brothers, Stella set out with Adam and his assistants toward the village.
The journey lasted a full day, the road winding through dry fields and silent hills.
Yet the path was still clear in her memory.
"Willow forest… on the right. Good, I didn't forget."
She rode in the carriage beside Adam. Four men accompanied them, one familiar face from before, the others strangers.
"Right… I almost forgot."
From her bag, Stella pulled out the necklace found near the village well. The design felt oddly familiar. After studying it for a while, something finally clicked.
"Mrs. Meryl… yes, she has one just like this."
Noticing the sudden spark in her expression, Adam asked, "What is it? What happened?"
"This necklace, I found it in the cursed village."
She explained everything.
"So you think there's something in the well?"
"I wanted to check it from the inside. But right now, what matters is finding who's behind the attacks on the caravans."
"You're right."
By nightfall, they reached the area and set camp a short distance from the willow forest. The trees stood still under the pale sky, their long branches swaying slightly in the breeze.
They rested and agreed to begin searching at dawn.
The weather was mild, making it easy to sleep under the open sky.
Stella remained occupied with something brought from the house, "You're the one who will give me the final answer."
Watching this, Adam thought quietly, "what a strange person."
Early the next morning, they moved west and soon reached the village. Burnt remains stretched across the land, the silence heavy and unnatural.
Everyone split up to search for clues.
" Liam said that all strange incidents happen at night or sunset. We probably won't encounter anything now."
After searching thoroughly, only the well remained, the single structure untouched by fire.
Stella asked them to remove the heavy wooden cover. It took effort, but eventually they managed to lift it and peer inside.
"It looks normal," Adam said, "even the water seems fine after all these years."
"Appearances can be misleading," Stella replied.
"How so? It's been sealed all this time."
"Maybe preserving it wasn't the only reason."
She uncovered what she had brought, a bundle of fresh flowers.
"What are you planning?"
"An experiment."
Using a container, Stella drew water from the well and poured it over the flowers.
"Tomorrow, we'll see the result."
At sunset, they returned to camp, the flowers were placed in the cart, uncovered.
"I hope I'm wrong about this…" she sighed.
The next morning, Stella rushed to check them, and froze.
The result was worse than expected.
Adam knocked on the carriage, "are you awake?"
She stepped out holding the flowers. The others immediately noticed the alarm in her face.
They were completely withered, dry, lifeless.
"What the hell happened?" Adam asked, stunned.
"What you're seeing," Stella said steadily, "is the effect of a powerful poison."
"What kind of poison lasts this long?" one of the men asked.
"As far as I know… arsenic."
"How can you be sure?"
"It matches the properties. When I examined the water, there was nothing unusual, no smell, no color, no taste."
Arsenic is a naturally occurring toxic compound, widely known for its lethal effects even in small amounts. It can be absorbed quickly through the skin, lungs, and digestive system.
Exposure can cause nausea, vomiting, severe pain, dizziness, muscle spasms, loss of consciousness, and in extreme cases, coma and death.
"Since twelve years have passed and the effect remains," Stella continued, "the quantity must have been massive, enough to wipe out not just a village, but an entire city."
Adam exhaled slowly ,"so that's how they died…"
"It wasn't a curse," she concluded. "And not an accident. It was deliberate."
"At first, the poison was added to the village's only well. Within minutes to an hour, everyone would have been dead, or completely incapacitated. Then the village was burned. The well survived, so it was sealed with a heavy cover. Something no single person could manage."
"That means… more than one culprit."
"At least four," Stella said.
Afterward, they spread rumors of a curse to keep people away, and it worked for years.